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China Trip During National Day Holiday Week

We were originally going to go China at end of May but for a number of reasons needed to change to fall. Frequent flier ticket dates were limited. So we will be in China from September 25 through October 8. The National Day holiday is October 1. I have seen different descriptions of whether it is three days or 7 days.

We were already able to simply change dates at our hotels and for our air ticket so I am not worried about that.

Our basic intinerary is

- Beijing arrive late on Sept 25, depart early Sept 30.

- Yunnan from Sept 30 to Oct 5 (we are staying in one place dear Dali with biking and hiking opportunities from there).

- Shanghai arrive late on Oct 5, depart late on Oct 8.

But what can we expect for those days before during and after such a holiday? Our only internal China travel days are September 30 (a Monday, from Bejing to Yunnan) and October 5 (a Saturday from Yunnan to Shanghai).

As best as I have read restaurants, shops and attractions would all be open but might be crowded with others enjoying the holiday. We are used to big cities and enjoy the festitivies of holidays but want to plan appropriately.

> I have seen different descriptions of whether it is three days or 7 days.

What happens with this and some other holidays is that to a rather limited number of weekdays off, a couple more are added but two weekend days are worked instead. So whereas for us 'a week off' typically means nine consecutive days without work, in China one weekend is worked, so it never means more than seven. In this case Sunday 29 and Mon 30 Sept will be worked, October 1 to 7 inclusive are holidays, and Sat 12 October will be worked. Those who have been at their work units for more than five years are (in theory) allowed some discretionary holidays(many get fired as they reach five year and then re-hired to avoid the employer having to honour this), so there's some raggedness at the edges, but the bulk of the masses not involved in service industries that remain open (e.g. museums, shops, other entertainments) will have holidays from October 1 to 7.

At the beginning and end of this period it is very bad news to be moving around, and you should book domestic flight tickets (if you don't already have them) as early as you can. People will start their journeys in increasing numbers from the afternoon of September 30. But once the rush of the first day is over long-distance transport tends to be lightly occupied, and discounts are available on domestic flights as normal.

The rush is mainly from the big cities overseas and to domestic resort areas. The general environment of the big cities is typically much improved: pollution drops and traffic flows a great deal more freely, although major sights may be very busy with people who've come in from the countryside.

Resort/holiday areas such as Yunnan, with more pleasant weather, will be very busy indeed, however, with hotel occupancy rates and room rates both very high, restaurants very busy, day trips and excursions booked out, etc.

Our flights are already booked. (I just had to change the original flights we had.) And our flight on Sept 30 from Beijing is very early in the morning. I will get advice from our Beijing hotel as to how best to get to the airport that morning and how to be sure to allow enough time.

And our time in Yunnan is with the Linden Centre which has their own activity programs for guests. I will ask them though if there is anything they would recommend we book in advance such as for a particular day trip.

The other thing that changed with the dates of the trip is the days of the week we are in Beijing and Shanghai. We arrive in Beijing late on a Wednesday (rather than a Saturday). We arrive in Shanghai on a Saturday evening (rather than a Wednesday). We had previously planned to visit the Great Wall on a Tuesday. That same day in the order of our new itinerary is a Saturday. Can we expect the GW -- or traffic to and from there -- to be much more busy on weekends than weekdays so that anyone would recommend we change the order of our plans and go on Friday instead? (That Saturday is Sept 28 so not the holiday yet exactly.)

> Can we expect the GW -- or traffic to and from there -- to be much more busy on weekends than weekdays so that anyone would recommend we change the order of our plans and go on Friday instead?

This partly depends on where you plan to go, although in general the publicly and officially open and popular sections near Beijing are busier at weekends. However, since the next day is being worked, perhaps traffic would be rather less than usual.

However, in general in China, you should do whatever you most want to do first, as there are frequent hiccups. If the Great Wall is high on your list then you should do it earlier rather than later.

JPDeM I think I will pretend I did not see those pictures. Hopefully we will avoid the worst as our only travel times are early Sept 30 and late Oct 5. And between those dates we are out in the country.